Dancing as Fast as I Can
by Broadwaylover5300
Summary: She knew that she loved her, loved all of her, but nobody else could, at least, not yet. Amber/Shelley!


**Hi! Sorry I haven't written anything in a while; I've been wanting to, but life kept intruding! However, I've had the idea for this one-shot swimming in my head for a couple days now, so hopefully it comes out okay!**

**This story is not a songfic, but I thought I would let you know that this fic is inspired by a bunch of love songs by the Carpenters, especially This Masquerade and Hurting Each Other. Just thought you'd be interested!**

It was a complicated tango that the two danced together, and, if Amber was being completely honest with herself, she was getting a little tired of it. It was something that had once been sort of romantic and mysterious, something that made the two of them more larger-than-life to each other. It had been romantic then, but now it was a nuisance.

It had been a couple of years ago when Amber had realized how she truly felt. She had gone to see a Robert Mitchum movie with Link. Amber thought that it might have been Cape Fear, but that was beside the point. As Amber sat, enthralled by Mitchum's electrifying performance, she suddenly realized that she was actually really interested in the movie. Typically, this wouldn't matter. After all, that was the reason that Amber usually went to the movies, but not when she was on a date. She went on a date for the same reasons that every other girl she knew went on dates: to maybe get a chance at getting lucky out at the canal. Nothing else was supposed to really matter, just that ends, and the means didn't matter one bit. It was then that Amber, realizing that she was enjoying the means much more than she knew that she would be enjoying the ends, knew that her love with Link was truly a façade, put up by both her and her mother to make her more accessible to the kids who watched the show. It had been a very effective front; after all, Amber had even fallen for it for a short time. She now saw it for what it was, though: a glossy cover for something that may be lovelier or uglier.

However, this revelation only opened up more questions for Amber. Amber knew that she had felt love before. There was no doubt about it. She had felt that warmth, that euphoria, that thrilling electric rush that only came when one was truly in love with somebody. However, if it wasn't Link that she had felt it toward, then Amber now faced the predicament of who it was who was truly making her feel that way. It was with determination that Amber set out to find out the truth.

In fact, Amber already really knew what the truth was. She knew it, and she knew there was no way of fooling herself in that regards. She was just afraid to admit it. She knew that searching for the truth would be nothing but a waste of her time. She knew where her interests truly lay. She had known it from the first time they had touched, from the first time she had turned her piercing eyes on Amber, from the first time that she had spoken to Amber, even if it was to spew insults at her.

She knew that Shelley was the one who held the keys to her heart.

xxx

Now that Amber knew it, it was now up to her to let Shelley know it. It really wasn't a question of if she should let Shelley know how she felt; it was a question of when and how to do so. There were two approaches that could be utilized: the subtle approach, which involved a lot of talks and five-syllable words and a lot of things that Amber didn't really want to think about, and the direct approach: see somebody, get excited, kiss them. Amber had opted for the direct approach, and she carried it out one day after the show behind Corny's podium.

However, the direct approach soon lead to a subtle stretch. Amber and Shelley, a bit uneasy about what others might think, soon plunged into a sea of subtleties, spending long periods of time after the show sitting, talking, spewing out long streams of words, talking but not really saying anything to each other. Looks were exchanged, touches occurred, but the make-out sessions lessened until it became nothing but a huge tangled mass of words and looks that Amber didn't even want to think about, much less be involved in. Amber really didn't understand why something as simple as love had to get so complicated. It truly hurt too. Amber hadn't felt what she felt toward Shelley toward anybody else, and she knew that she never would, and it was really hurting that she couldn't show it to the world, at least not without ridicule. Amber knew somehow that Shelley felt the same way, and she didn't know why they had to go on, hurting each other, in a sense, without really knowing why they were doing so.

Amber knew that there was no easy way out of this web, not now, at least. She knew that she and Shelley had a long way to go until they could cut themselves loose. All they could do for now was to keep dancing as fast as they could, trying to make it down the road of life until they got to the point where they could let it all go.

It certainly wasn't anytime soon, Amber knew that. But she knew that that special place where she and Shelley could finally fully live their lives was out there, and it was certainly worth the effort to get there.


End file.
